écrire

Pronunciation

• IPA: /e.kʁiʁ/^[1]

Forms

écrire^[1] Old French escrivre, the regular outcome, and escrire; the spelling écrire is recorded in 1636.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French escrire, inherited from Latin scrībō (“to trace characters; to write; to compose”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The form “escrivre” gave way to “escrire” in the 13th century under the influence of “lire” and “dire”, with which the verb was so often coupled.^[2][3] The Latin verb is related to Indo-European words meaning “to scratch, incise”, which recalls the material origin of most writing, carved on stone or scratched on a surface; the Petit Robert compares Ancient Greek σκαριφάομαι (skaripháomai, “to scratch”).^[5][8]

Cognate with Italian scrivere, Occitan escriure, Spanish escribir, Portuguese escrever and Romanian scrie.^[8][9] The Petit Robert also compares Breton skriva and German schreiben.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis (escrit “he writes it down”) in the sense “to put in writing”; the Chanson de Roland has il est escrit en la geste francor “it is written in the chronicle of the Franks”.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

Old French already used the verb intransitively for writing a letter (after 1250, écrire à quelqu'un about 1560); it then meant “to inscribe lastingly” (1268) and “to express in writing”, also absolutely of authors (1549).^[5] In the 16th century it took the sense “to spell (a word) with certain letters”.^[5] The Académie added “to compose music” in 1835, and after 1960 the verb was used for storing data in a computer's memory.^[5]

C'est écrit “it is fated” and ce qui est écrit est écrit (1694) echo Pontius Pilate's words about the inscription on the Cross.^[5] The past participle used as a noun, un écrit, is found from 1119, and l'écrit, the written part of an examination, from 1900 (Colette).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Escrit in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[4]
• 1119 – The noun escrit, in Philippe de Thaon.^[4]
• 13th century – Escrire replaces escrivre.^[2]
• 1268 – “To inscribe lastingly”.^[5]
• 1580 – Écrivailleur in Montaigne.^[2]
• 1636 – The spelling écrire, in Monet.^[3]
• 1835 – “To compose music”, in the Académie's dictionary.^[5]
• 1900 – L'écrit of an examination, in Colette.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To form letters and words on a surface; to write: apprendre à écrire.^[8][3]
2. To spell: comment écrit-on ce mot ?^[5]
3. To put down in writing; to compose a text or a work: écrire un roman; to be an author.^[3][8]
4. To write a letter to someone: écrire à sa mère.^[5]
5. To compose music.^[5]
6. (computing) To store data in a memory.^[5]

Word family

• écrit
• écriteau
• écrivailler
• récrire
• écriture
• écrivain
• écritoire

Related words

• scribe
• décrire
• inscrire
• prescrire
• Latin scrībō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 331b
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette